A member of the public has asked the Attorney General to recommend increasing the sentence of two thugs who bottled a Korean student.
Louis Barrett, 19, and Bradley Garrett, 18, were sentenced at Lewes Crown Court in October for their part in the shocking attack on Yehsung Kim in North Street.
Garrett, of Haywards Heath, was given a two-year sentence suspended for two years for attempted grievous bodily harm with intent.
Barrett, of Burgess Hill, was jailed for 21 months for racially aggravated assault and racial harassment.
This week, the Attorney General’s office released anonymised details of all the cases referred to it under the unduly lenient sentence scheme, which allows members of the public to request a referral to the Court of Appeal.
However, the details given are enough to identify Barrett and Garrett’s case as one of those which have been referred. The case is currently under consideration.
No details of who referred the case have been given.
When the pair were sentenced, Judge Mooney said he was taking into account that Garrett was just 15 at the time of the attack, which happened in October 2017.
He said that Barrett had created the atmosphere which led to the attack.
The moment Mr Kim was smashed in the face with the champagne bottle was filmed and posted on Facebook, where it quickly went viral, particularly in South Korea.
Mr Kim was left needing £2,000 worth of dental work, and in a victim impact statement read out at the sentencing hearing he said he was still struggling mentally and emotionally with the aftermath of the attack.
Their sentences are two of 23 passed at Lewes Crown Court (which includes hearings at Hove Trial Centre and Brighton Crown Court) which were referred under the scheme in 2019.
Of these, five were referred to the Court of Appeal – and of those, sentences were increased in three cases.
This includes Crawley child rapist Joshua Bouzan, 29, who who raped and sexually abused two children over the course of six years.
In July, his sentence was increased from six years to ten.
The other two were both sentenced for sexual activity with a child. The first, whose initials are IC, was sentenced to two years suspended for two years on 21 December 2018, which was increased to three years in February last year.
The second, whose initials are FS, was sentenced on April 12 to three years and four months, which was increased to four years and eight months in June last year.
One more case is outstanding.
